Agony Aunt

Just an idea for habbox.

Agony aunt is a secret habbox user on the forum who is completely secure and only you and agony can see. Agony is there to help you when your in need of advice, feeling glum, or just to chat for help in basic life.

Now you might be saying- why? The reason I think we need an agony aunt is because sometimes teenagers need some advice from people they can talk to their own age and may have went through the same experiences as you.

You may think that the Heath and Advice forums would be good for this, but sometimes it is hard for us to post things infront of the public when you only want one person to know who is able to keep it confidential.

Please do post your thoughts below,
I believe this is a good idea as it is something new, something helpful when in a crisis, and just some fun.

Thanks
-Matt

I really like it tbh! ;)

I like this idea a lot :D <3

It seems like a good idea to me. :)

Didn't this used to exist before at some point?

Also I vote there be Agony Aunt and Agony Uncle (For female and male issues)

I don't think there is any point in it.

It would just be abused, constantly.

AndI don't think forum users should be advertised as 'trusted to keep secrets'

I had this idea when I first joined the News and Articles deparment... I can't remember what happened, but it didn't get off!

I'd love to do it... I'm the school Agony Aunt for our magazine, so I kinda have some experience.

The only problem I can see is that it's a little bit like the blind leading the blind, espeically if someone young ended up advising about something that they haven't gone through? It could be a problem. But I'd LOVE to do it, I think it's a good idea.

It would be easy for the aunt/uncle to ignore the person who is using it incorrectly. Its not hard :)

I like the idea. Although can i suggest having like different sections because some members are absolutely clueless on some things. For example, some would be good with helping people dealing with family/friend issues, but awful at relationships (trust me ive seen this many times), whilst someone may be the complete opposite.

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Originally Posted by Maatt.

It would be easy for the aunt/uncle to ignore the person who is using it incorrectly. Its not hard :)

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"I am being bullied at school" - how would you know if the user is just abusing it?

I don't think trusting some random person on the internet to not tell others about you is a good idea.

I dont think this is possible but it would be really cool if in the "Health, Life & Relationships" forum you could post anonymously (it hides your name, avatar, postbit profile and signature for everybody but moderators (for obvious reasons)), that way you wouldnt have to "hire" someone as such and the whole forum could respond. Although usually a lot of people don't seem to be too bothered about posting their problems in the HLR forum without being anonymous.

In my opinion it's a fantastic idea! But will this disrupt people from posting their problems on the forum and people helping them?

I like the idea of being anon. in the health thingy forum.

So you want an Agony Aunt so some of the forums in General will die? I'm not a fan of it.

I remember Shaz doing Agony Aunt competitions on Mr-Trainor's site where she comes up with a problem from a user and the best reply wins, I'd prefer that or doing what Oli said, but then again, I prefer using my username etc as then the people who help you can speak to you outside hxf.

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Originally Posted by Kfnx

So you want an Agony Aunt so some of the forums in General will die? I'm not a fan of it.

I remember Shaz doing Agony Aunt competitions on Mr-Trainor's site where she comes up with a problem from a user and the best reply wins, I'd prefer that or doing what Oli said, but then again, I prefer using my username etc as then the people who help you can speak to you outside hxf.

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Got a shoutout ;)

I'm all for this idea - but after experience there's genuinely no-one I completely trust with my problems. Who knows that they won't go and tell someone? Plus some of the things I have to say about my personal life - nobody can relate to in my opninion.

I like the idea, but i wouldn't like knowing a person knows your problem

Not sure why users in general can't just do this already. If people want to talk privately, they could make these intentions clear or ask vague but understandable questions like "What should I do if I feel depressed?" or "My parent died and I need help". The users of the forum are more than sympathetic and caring, and should be able to cater for such a thing already :)

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Originally Posted by Hecktix

I dont think this is possible but it would be really cool if in the "Health, Life & Relationships" forum you could post anonymously (it hides your name, avatar, postbit profile and signature for everybody but moderators (for obvious reasons)), that way you wouldnt have to "hire" someone as such and the whole forum could respond. Although usually a lot of people don't seem to be too bothered about posting their problems in the HLR forum without being anonymous.

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Hmm, that could work although it could be seen as a lot of effort. It really depends what people mean by "personal" issues. Vagueness could cover up the details, but give some information to give a reasoned responses like links to helpful websites.

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Originally Posted by Hecktix

I dont think this is possible but it would be really cool if in the "Health, Life & Relationships" forum you could post anonymously (it hides your name, avatar, postbit profile and signature for everybody but moderators (for obvious reasons)), that way you wouldnt have to "hire" someone as such and the whole forum could respond. Although usually a lot of people don't seem to be too bothered about posting their problems in the HLR forum without being anonymous.

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This, but restricted to super-moderators. Also, I'm not exactly sure where you'd get a statistic for that without making a poll, just by judging how popular the forum itself is really isn't a measurement because there's no means for comparison. It could be that very few people of those who want to post actually post.

I would stay away from a singular agony aunt for a lot of reasons, some of which have been listed.

Also, the idea of giving specific advice (versus a magazine per say) is a little different here in that each user would receive advice, which puts Habbox a little on the hook if its an official agony aunt. Plus, many have raised the point on whether we really have someone who has enough experience to give good advice always.

I much prefer the idea of an anonymous forum. Also, I would suggest that the username doesn't even show up for (Super) Moderators, instead that Super Moderators can check the IP and then use IPLookup if necessary. This way, if there is a problem with the leaking of who posted certain threads, Forum Management has a way to track how it got out through Moderator Logs.

Nice idea, but could lead to a minefield of problems as if someone was appointed as 'Agony Aunt' / Uncle specifically to give advice on problems then I think Habbox could be responsible for the advice given which could be a problem if it all goes wrong. I do like the 'anonymous idea' though for those who feel awkward asking outright for advice. I do think that this forum has a lot of members who give great advice/views on many different topics.

I really like this idea. i would like to see this happen

We have looked at doing this before in the news department, but I wasn't too keen on the ideas and I don't think the GM team at the time were either. I mean, If it was down to me I would opt for Oli's idea of having an option to post anonymously in the HLR forums as this way we wouldn't have to have someone with a specific responsability and I assume it would be part of the moderation departments duties to oversee the forum, as they do all others, in order to make sure no one is being stupid or idiotic regarding the help they need or the advice they are giving.

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Originally Posted by Nuxty

We have looked at doing this before in the news department, but I wasn't too keen on the ideas and I don't think the GM team at the time were either. I mean, If it was down to me I would opt for Oli's idea of having an option to post anonymously in the HLR forums as this way we wouldn't have to have someone with a specific responsability and I assume it would be part of the moderation departments duties to oversee the forum, as they do all others, in order to make sure no one is being stupid or idiotic regarding the help they need or the advice they are giving.

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Yeah I think that's the best way. Anonymously posting in the forum rather than PMing etc.

I don't see a problem with the mod department overlooking the forum, as long as they don't 'leak' private issues. :)

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Originally Posted by Ouft

Yeah I think that's the best way. Anonymously posting in the forum rather than PMing etc.

I don't see a problem with the mod department overlooking the forum, as long as they don't 'leak' private issues. :)

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No I disagree because if this were possible (like Oli said it might not even be) I'd opt for nvrs idea. You can have that 'trust' argument that all mods are gonna be respected members of the community blah, blah, blah and I'm not disputing that however there will be people in the department who will think there's no problem to leak the goss to a close friend, then that close friend leaks it to someone else etc etc. In addition there have been moderators who abuse their power whatever it is so who says they won't abuse it now? Just like a HxHD staff could leak the password when it wasn't wired, just like a habboxlive staff could leak the panel password (dunno if this'd work mind you, I've never been on a radio :P) or just like any staff could leak a part of info about their dept. Although staff are meant to be trusted, there'll ALWAYS be ones who can't be with power.

Having said this, I think if the idea were possible that there is an option to put it private or your name can be seen. I say this purely because there are questions in there like "have you ever e-dated?" which isn't really asking for advice but opening a discussion on a discussion board.

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Originally Posted by Competitions

No I disagree because if this were possible (like Oli said it might not even be) I'd opt for nvrs idea. You can have that 'trust' argument that all mods are gonna be respected members of the community blah, blah, blah and I'm not disputing that however there will be people in the department who will think there's no problem to leak the goss to a close friend, then that close friend leaks it to someone else etc etc. In addition there have been moderators who abuse their power whatever it is so who says they won't abuse it now? Just like a HxHD staff could leak the password when it wasn't wired, just like a habboxlive staff could leak the panel password (dunno if this'd work mind you, I've never been on a radio :P) or just like any staff could leak a part of info about their dept. Although staff are meant to be trusted, there'll ALWAYS be ones who can't be with power.

Having said this, I think if the idea were possible that there is an option to put it private or your name can be seen. I say this purely because there are questions in there like "have you ever e-dated?" which isn't really asking for advice but opening a discussion on a discussion board.

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To point out, no matter how much we may want to trust the moderators, at the end of the day they are just teenagers, who are volunteers - I don't think trusting someone who is just another person (baring in mind I do not trust people in general) is a good idea.

This just seems a bit too novel and won't be used in my opinion. There's nothing wrong posting a thread asking for help. You would no doubt get pointed in the right direction for anything embarassing or given suggestions. To be fair, a quick Google Search is enough :/ If you want a sympathetic ear, like for the loss of a family member, people already do that :/

I think it's a bad idea because whoever was to be the 'agony aunt' most likely won't be experienced in a lot of areas and so will be giving advice that they don't really know what they're talking about and might lead the person wanting help in the wrong direction

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Originally Posted by Nuxty

We have looked at doing this before in the news department, but I wasn't too keen on the ideas and I don't think the GM team at the time were either

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Indeed. It was Jin who was the main one who put a stop to it, even though at the time the community was up for it. Posting anonymously in the health forums seems like a good alternative though.

Do what The Student Room do and make an anonymous forum where people can anonymously reply... Simple. I think I know why it hasn't been implemented in the past though cuz I do remember this being a suggested a few times, it all comes down to who is trust worthy enough to take on the role and also advise someone on something which they've had no training on dealing with. Leave it to the pros n that innit.

We set up a feature like this when I was Community manager where users could use a part of the support tool to reach out and have a place to speak their mind that they might not want to publish elsewhere. Organised it, implemented it, advertised it, monitored it - and not a single person used it. Something of a victory in a way because it could be taken to mean that no-one felt bad enough about anything to need to use it, but I don't think teens have changed so much in a couple of years that they really need this option now.

Anonymous help areas might be a solution (if there's even a need for this) but it would of course have to be pretty heavily monitored, and would moderation be able to see who the posters really were? If not then there could easily be repeat offenders who just cause trouble, and if so then it's not really anonymous because let's face it nothing really stays confidential around here